On my way back to Italy, I had the opportunity to choose a layover at the new Istanbul Airport to check out the new airport and its lounges.

I had visited the old lounge back in 2017, 2018, and early 2019 and it was impeccable, so I was excited to check out the new airport and its lounge.

The new airport opened on April 6, 2019 and features five concourses, 143 jet bridges, and four runways. Check out the terminal!

The airport features two mostly identical international lounges located between the C and E gates: the Business Lounge and the Miles&Smiles Lounge. In addition, there’s also a Domestic Lounge and a new Priority Pass lounge that I’ll review at a later date.

The two international lounges are just steps away and are mirror images of each other with identical amenities. The Business Lounge is accessible to Star Alliance business class passengers and the Miles&Smiles Lounge is available for Star Alliance Gold members. Each Gold member can bring one guest.

Inside, the amenities were very similar to the old lounge and a piano was prominently displayed near the entrance. There was also a nifty video wall that featured headphones that you could tune to your preferred TV channel.

The real star of the show here was, of course, the food. This lounge had plenty of food, spread throughout the space, so there was no crowding and you didn’t have to walk more than a few steps to get something.

Everything was fresh. There were baristas preparing coffee, DO&CO chefs making numerous dishes, and personnel always attending to the salad bar items to ensure everything was restocked and looked perfect.

I sampled a bit of everything including some Asian chicken, Turkish grilled chicken with vegetables, plus some delicious moussaka. Everything was restaurant quality.

In addition to what DO&CO accurately calls “Gourmet Entertainment”, there were lots of other things to do to here including a slot car track and computer stations along with lots of seating overlooking the terminal below.

If you wanted to freshen up, the lounge had several shower suites available.

In addition, if you are arriving or departing on a Turkish Airlines business class flight of over eight hours and have a connection time between four and nine hours, you can make use of one of twelve suites located inside the lounge.

After a sleeping for a few hours here, I can honestly say this was the best nap room of any airport lounge I’ve been to!

Overall, compared to the previous lounge, I don’t think Turkish Airlines had much to improve upon. The original lounge was fantastic in almost every way, but this one had a more convenient layout, had more space for guests, and had some epic nap rooms. 10/10 would recommend.

 

Thanks for reading!

-Matt